Tuesday, August 30, 2011

If you are a youth (12-30) and you live in Point Douglas, AYO wants YOU to know what's happening in the next election(happening October 4th/11).

We are having several events to inform and empower young people in this election and want young people to come and check it out. Tomorrow (Wednesday) night AYO's PolitiX hits Ralph Brown Community Centre @ 460 Andrews Street! GET INFORMED invites young North Enders to research and educate themselves on voting, why its important and what kind of Qs can be asked at upcoming events.

GET INFORMED! (http://bit.ly/olP8Q4)-Wed Aug 31st @ Ralph Brown Community Centre (460 Andrews St., Winnipeg, MB)-Youth Info Session- Youth are invited to come to Ralph Brown and brainstorm some questions and do some research in preparation for Get Real (this Saturday). We will check out party/candidate websites, share personal experiences and share 'How to ask a Question!'

GET REAL! (http://bit.ly/olP8Q4)-Sat Sept 3rd @ Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre (510 King St., Winnipeg, MB)- YOUTH candidates forum!!- We have invited those running for Point Douglas in the upcoming provincial election to face young North Enders and ask questions pertaining to the issued important to young people. Enjoy our 'Get Real' forum with YES/NO answers from candidates!-Kevin Chief (NDP) has confirmed!-Mary Lou Bourgeois (Liberal) is confirmed!-Teresa Pun (Green) is interested!-John Vernaus (Conservative) has not replied yet!

FAQz

Q: Who can come?!A: Any Youth, or youth helper who lives/works in Point Douglas, 12-30!

Q: Why are we inviting 12-18 year olds, they can't even vote?!A: True, the young ones can't vote but they will some day. If these younger ones get informed and involved now, they will be informed voting power houses when they do get old enough to vote!

We were able to have this opportunity because there was someone who had worked hard for 17 years to lay a foundation to make this possible. We are going to change things AYO, we are going to make a difference in our communities, not only in Winnipeg, but all across Turtle Island. We have a lot of work to do, but we have a lot of successes to build upon. We have a lot of systems that are starting to be receptive (or are at least pretending to be). Many people sent in questions, ad we were able to explain what our concept of an anti-gang was (people banding together for support to DO GOOD). We were able to represent ourselves and this will turn into more opportunities within CBC and other forms of media! Opportunities in the media to change people's perspective by sharing our example....beautiful.

Institutions

It seems like we know now what we need to do. We need to work within the various systems, including community, including government, including business and including labour. Once we as Aboriginal people are able to obtain leadership roles within these systems, we can start making a sustainable change that can last beyond our own life spans and be there for the next generation to build upon. The only way is to get involved in the INSTITUTIONS that oppress us: justice, healthcare, child welfare, and more. If we can teach our young people leadership, then I believe there is hope for the future of our nation, and the future of Mother Earth.

For the last 10 days, I have been keeping an eye on my police updates. It has seemed to me that the people that are doing the crimes are super young!! If the people that are actually doing the crimes are young, in our neighbourhood, it shows us that our young people are screaming for help!

Stats

I just combed through my police stats for the last 9 days, from Aug 20th, until now. I compiled the ages of the victims and the offenders for this last 9 day time frame in our area. The events I have included have been robberies, assaults and arsons. As such, I have determined the following conclusions:

There were a total of 10 reported victims and 19 reported offenders: I emphasize that this is only the reported numbers. I know that many people have lost faith in the police and do not call anymore when they should ( I am one of them).

60% of victims were between the ages of 18-22: This is shitty, because it shows me it is a dangerous time to be a young person in our hood. The ages ranged from 18 to 65, but most were in the above age bracket. (4 people WERE 22 years old!)

57% of offenders were under the age of 18!: Young people, that are not even adults yet, are committing more than half of these violent crimes. That shows me our youth need help! The young people in our hood need productive OPPORTUNITY!! This is an SOS for Winnipeg, WE SHOULD BE LISTENING!! (here are the actual ages in that group: 12, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15, 15, 17, 17)

Brutality

This is something that is not usually covered in the media. But AGAIN one of my friends was a victim of police brutality. He was tasered, he needed stitches in his head, and his face/back are all bruised to shit. I cannot believe this. The injustice. Isn’t there something called unnecessary force when someone is being arrested?!?! There were multiple police, and only one victim. He ran from the police and was ultimately beaten for it.

Did you ever think that the reason that young people run from police is because there is a HUGE association with police and violence in our hood?!?! Young people are afraid of the police for this very reason. And many do not care about this. There is hardly a peep in the media when a young man is beaten beyond recognition by the police. Why would they report it on themselves?!?! It’s ok though because he got their badge numbers and I am going to try my best to help him out. It just sucks because this is so common. People are always abused in our hood by the police, I know their motto is ‘building relationships’ but when I see the proof that my friends get the shit kicked out of them by the people that are supposed to be keeping us safe…I don’t really know if I can believe that.

So here we are, at the front end of another election (again!). I don’t know about you folks, but it seems like there have been about a hundred elections in the last couple years…but this should be the last one for a while anyway.

Ekosi

So the first debate happened yesterday, put on by the Manitoba Teachers Society, and hosted by CJOB68 and Richard Cloutier. I was fortunate enough to receive an opportunity to attend from Mr. Floyd Wiebe (Gang Awareness for Parents) who is always advocating and providing opportunities to young people. I know that I speak for myself and Jenna Liicious when I say that we are forever indebted to Floyd, and the other members of the AYO Family for all of their support in providing AYO Leaders with many opportunities to be heard and REPRESENT!

@ the Radisson

So it was a nice event in the morning, at the Radisson where the 3 party leaders (Greg Selinger – NDP, Hugh McFayden – Progressive Conservatives and Dr. Jon Gerard – Liberal) debated about education. There were questions about pensions, and curriculum, but the one that got me really pumped was the one that was asked by the awesome Jenna Liicious! She asked the people that are gonna be premier of our province: what are you gonna do to support people that are living in poverty so that they can succeed and graduate from high school? (Video Below)

As you can hear, the political folks did not do that great of a job answering that question. Hugh, sounded sincere when he responded…but did not answer the question. Greg sounded super sincere, and I was quite impressed that the first thing he said was schools need to be SAFE and WELCOMING. I appreciate that. Finally, Mr Gerard quoted CCPA – MB in referencing the low drop out rates in the inner city and said the government MUST deploy its resources effectively to address this challenge.

Setting the Bar for This Election

So, its nice because AYO is planning to have a candidates forum for Point Douglas on Saturday September 3rd, and this was a great chance for us to get involved at the beginning. Another thing, is that our involvement there is sending a message: ABORIGINAL YOUTH ARE NOT APATHETIC. We are setting a standard for this election that says, Aboriginal youth care about or province, the people in it, and will get as informed and educated as we need to, to be able to work effectively with the people that are trying to represent us. I can hardly wait to see what this election brings because I feel like the YOUTH OF MANITOBA are listening now…and are ready to move forward.

Support from politicians will make our challenge easier, but we will not stop, regardless of the outcome of this election. Not until we bring unity back to our whole community.

The first thing I need to say to you, is thank you; for all of the work you have done in trying to change the way people look at and engage in politics. Thank you for being a leader that was approachable, courageous, and real. Thank you for sharing an example of positive politics, advocating for compassion, and being an example of collaborative leadership. 2 days ago, Jack Layton wrote a letter to Canadians...he knew that he was not well, and left us with these amazing words that bring me to tears...

I am a young person who is 'at-risk'. I am Aboriginal, grew up in poverty, went through the child welfare system and have been the victim of abuse. I have many reasons why I could be sad, disenfranchised and hopeless. But when there are role models, like Jack Layton, that make these inaccessible systems feel like they are listening to someone like me...that has to be something big. That has to be acknowledged, because what he has done, is he has broken down those walls. Now I believe that I can help lead our country. Now I believe that I can make a difference by sticking to positivity and hope. Because of Jack's example.

When I heard the news of you passing today, I didn't know that it would affect me in this way. I didn't know that my heart would be broken. I didn't know that the love that you shared with the people, the young people, of this nation would be felt so deeply in my own heart. I didn't realize that his way of campaigning, his method of reaching out to people, was something that I felt in my own heart.

Jack Layton 'Pound It'

I remember when Jack came here recently, for the last Election, and Rebecca Blaikie had an event at the Ukrainian Labour Temple. I remember it because I didn't want to go. I didn't want to go to another volunteer thing after a long day at work...but I did. And when I did I got to wear a 'Steelworkers for Jack Layton' T shirt. I got to go on stage, and I got to be in line, so I could shake his hand when he entered the building.

Well, being the MC that I am, I did wait patiently for all of this to happen. At the time, I was tired, but I remember the way the room lit up, the energy was intense when Jack entered the room. People young old and of every colour and shape were so sincerely pleased to see this man, who was sincerely pleased to see them! He went through and shook a bunch of hands and then he same to me. I didn't want this to be a usual hand shake, and I wanted Jack to be aware that shaking hands isn't the most accessible way to greet all people at all times. When he got to me, I stopped Jack, and refused his hand shake *gasp!* and moments later, I put out my knuckle, in the usual fist-bump fashion. Being the quick adaptive guy he was, he paused for a second, and proceeded to give me a 'pound it' and I thought he was so cool!

Safe Travels

I am moved by Jack Layton and the example he has set. I hope that the other political leaders and parties have learned from his example and we truly can move our nation, and all of Turtle Island forward, with hope, positivity and integrity. Thank you Jack Layton for showing the world that it IS possible, even when they tell you its not. Thank you Jack Layton for showing the world that you can give a shit, and be real about it. Thank you for showing the world that when you lead with your heart, that the great dreams we have inside of us, can become reality.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

On Saturday August 20th 2011, the North End came together to celebrate the summer, support and diversity that we have within our community!

The annual event Picnic in the Park took place beginning at 11am in the moring and carrying on well into the evening, ending at 3:45pm. It was a fantastic and free event intended to showcase the many positive theings that are happening in the community, and simply enjoy a picnic, in the park, together.

I am thankful for the opportunity to act as one of the co-emcees for the event alongside Carrey Sinclair, and introduce the awesome entertainers and try to keep the mood energized and positive in between our entertainers! We had many exciting features at the event including the 'Walk of Fame' which featured community agencies that wanted to share information, resources and support to North Enders. They ranged from th University of Winnipeg Urban and Inner City tudies, to Ross Eadie, City Councillor, to Toastmasters, to North End Food Security Network, Zion Church, SEED Winnipeg and so many more!!

(A complete list of the partners will be made available at the NECRC website soon!)

Entertainment

We had such a wide array of entertainment, and we were keeping the world up to date (up to the minute!) through NECRC's Twitter account (@NorthEndRising). We opened up with community Mentor Selena Clements singing O Canada as well as 2 songs, one of which was dedicated to our community volunteers! This is the 2nd year she has shared her voice with the Picnic!

Norman Chief Memorial Dancers lit up the stage with their awesome brand of Jigging!!!

Lorenzo mixes his Rez sound with Country & Hip Hop and more to creative a positive message for our youth!

DB Blues Band rocked the Park with their brand of BLUES!!

Hundreds of communtiy members shard the park, soaked up the sun, and enjoyed the free food and entertainment!

As you can see, the pictures tell a thousand words! It was an excellent time, and I can't wait til next year! It was excellent at the end giving away the 10 $25 Gift Certificates for Extra foods, the free books donated by Mount Carmel Clinic's Day Care and dealing with lost items and parking violations! Something funny, we created an opportunity for people to come up on the Picnic Stage, and get their pics with the emcees. That's a tradition we can continue every year! We also had these fantastic events and opportunities:

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Once upon a time, beginning in October 2010, Aboriginal youth in Winnipeg’s North End began to GET INVOLVED in Politics.

In the Beginning…

[OCTOBER 2010] It all began with the Civic election in which Judy WL super charged members of the AYO Leadership Team with her energy and commitment to our community.In the end, Ross Eadie, Mike Pagtakhan and Sam Katz were elected to rep our hood on the city-level.

And then came the Federal By-Election

[NOVEMEBR 2010] Just a few short weeks later, Canada held a by-election in several different ridings, including one in Winnipeg North.This election was exciting because one of the candidates was a young (ish) Aboriginal fellow by the name of Kevin Chief.He was running to rep our hood in Ottawa.In the end, Kevin Lameroux was elected to rep that riding.

AND THEN came the 41st Federal Election

[MAY 2011] This is the one where everyone in the country had to choose their rep, and whichever team had the most colours at the end, got to have their captain as Prime Minister for Canada. This is where our ‘Get Real’ forum was born and where PolitiX began. Kevin Lameroux and Stephen Harper came on top for that one. And now…

GET REAL POINT DOUGLAS!

[OCTOBER 2011] Coming up, on October 4th, we have a duty to Louis Riel and all of the fighters that came before us, to VOTE in this upcoming provincial election.

As such, AYO is hosting 2 community events to share information with the youth in the North End, so they can get involved, get informed and get voting!

Get informed

Wednesday August 31st 2011, 6-8 pm @ Ralph Brown Community Centre

This is an event inteneded to provide youth with information about the upcoming election, who the candidates are, how they can register to vote, and also hear from some young people about their experiences with AYO, PolitiX and the whole political environment!This is where YOUth can craft their Yes/No questions that will be asked at…

Get Real

Saturday September 3rd 2011, 3-5pm @ Turtle Island Community Centre

This is a political forum where candidates must face the Youth they are trying to represent.Each of the candidates will introduce themselves and say no more than 5 words of introduction.Then, we will move to the forum portion where students can ask their yes or no questions to the candidates. The candidates CANNOT SPEAK to answer the question, and must instead, concurrently hold up their YES/NO response to that youth’s question. At the end, each candidate will be given 10 minutes to explain their answers before the event comes to a conclusion.

If you are interested in participating in any of these events, please contact Rocky King on Facebook, or any member of the AYO Leadership Team (aboriginal.youth.opportunities@gmail.com)

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I got to sit on a steering committee that said we needed to provide more opportunities/supports to the young people in the North End to ensure they graduate from high school. It is no secret to anyone who lives here that high school is not always the #1 priority living in the poverty that many of us have to deal with in the North End. I am and always have been a firm believer that the Youth in our community will change the world when provided with the right supports...I believe this program provides MANY of those very supports.

The Path(ways)

So, how do YOUth get there? ANY STUDENT IN THE ABOVE AREA CAN JOIN PATHWAYS FOR FREE!!!! This was so exciting I needed to do some more digging. I had an opportunity to speak with Miss Rebecca Blaikie (one of the bosses @ CEDA) and she explained to me that they still have spots open for grade 9s and 10s for this coming September. In a Facebook message, Rebecca shared some very important info with me, that I'd like to pass on, in the form of ARROWS....

I love the way these folks work...and to explain it in a way that I understand, I'd like to reference AYO's ARROWS Youth Engagement Strategy!

ACCESS

You can reach CEDA by stopping by the CEDA Pathways to Education Program Office @ 470 Stella Ave. Any youth in grades 9 or 10 who live in within the boundary, it doesn't matter what High School you attend. The boundaries are: Sutherland to the South, McGregor to the West, Redwood to the North and the River to the East.

CEDA hosts the Pathways to Education program in Winnipeg, with partnerships from the Province of Manitoba, the Winnipeg School Division, the Pathway to Education Canada, the University of Winnipeg and the City of Winnipeg. Pathways to Education-Winnipeg program focuses on lowering high school drop outs rates, increasing access to post-secondary education and closing the “opportunity gap”.

There are 4 pillars to the Pathways program which collectively provide a holistic approach that supports students to complete their education, make the transition into a successful career. The CEDA –Pathway to Education-Winnipeg program incorporates Pathways to Education Canada, four pillars of support into a Medicine Wheel model. (more information about success rates of this program here)

RESOURCES

CEDA- Pathways to Education program provides many RESOURCES to its students, chekk it: •Financial Support - Monthly financial incentives (free bus pass, school supplies) and, up to $4,000 scholarship towards tuition upon graduation•Academic Support - Tutoring in all subject areas, learning opportunities, learning resources, computer access •Advocacy Support - Group mentoring activities, great nutritional food, culture learning •Social Support - School supports, volunteering, job search. Pathways to Education program will be taking new students in fall of 2011. In order to qualify, the students need to live in area of this Map and be in grade 9/10.

There are so many chances to develop your skills in this program, and once you make it past grade 10, you can start mentoring the other students in the program. Also, its an opportunity to learn about culture, since they use a Medicine Wheel model, but it is available to ANY student, regardless if they are white brown or purple as long as they live in the boundaries. The best opportunity in my opinion, is the fact that every year you complete the program, you get SCHOLARSHIPS FOR UNIVERSITY! Chyea!

WELCOME
The thing that's awesome about this program is they really care about the students and the environment. They get the whole picture, and in their Student Centre there are couches and computers and friendly faces and FOOD! For more information about registration please call our Student Parent Support Workers at 582-5800 or drop by our office at 470 stella Avenue Avenue.

SUPPORT

This entire program is designed to support YOUth. If you have any recommendations you can bring them to Rebecca, Darlene (the Coordinator) or to any of the staff that work with Pathways.You can also contact MC directly to get more info on facebook!!

Education is the Key out of Poverty people! GO BACK TO SCHOOL!

MC

PS - for those of you who know me, you know that a couple years ago, I left University because I was frustrated and discouraged. This seems like the right time to tell you folks that this September I am going to start going back to University, with the U of W Urban and Inner City Studies program on Selkirk Ave...tryna lead by example. (If I can do it, YOUth can do it too!! #RealTalk)

Monday, August 8, 2011

->NEXT GFB hits the North End on August 16th (every 2nd Tuesday) ORDER YOURS TODAY! <-

The Good Food Box is a community based program designed to encourage healthier eating through the promotion of fresh fruits and vegetables (Shout out to NECRC for organizing and Indian Family Centre for being one of the pick up points)! It is a bulk-buying program that aims to lower your grocery bill by buying bulk, fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms and distributors. Each box may contain any variety of high quality, fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables. Stock depends on which are in season or available at the best value.

In any event, this has now hit the North End thanks to the hard work of Margo and her dedicated and committed team over at the North End Food Security Network. It may be helpful to take a look at what that word actually means:

“Food Security” is defined locally and globally as meaning that:

Everyone has sustainable access to food in a way that promotes heath, respect and dignity

People are able to earn a living wage by growing, producing, processing, retailing and serving food

The quality of water, air and land is maintained and improved for future generations

Food is recognized as central to community and cultural integrity

As you can see, when we take a look at this definition, we cna see that our inner city North End community (and any remote/isolated reserve for that matter) is gonna be considered Food INsecure. These communities are going to have challenges accessing healthy and affordable options for food based on geography and the systemic issues that are present.

My Good Food Box

So as you can see from the pic above, for only $20 I received some amazing things. Here is a summary of what I got (you can also order a smaller box for $12):

black berries

Corn on the Cob

Cabbage

Lettuce

Grapes & Cherries

Apples and apricots

bananas

potatoes

mushrooms

fresh ground flour

green onions and carrots

So. As you can see that is quite the list. And for a family on a low income, this is gonna be an awesome opportunity to feed your family healthy stuff for cheap. All the food is locally grown and is offered thanks to the contributions of local farmers and stores. I have been eating so good lately and can't wait until the next time we can order one!

Thanks again to Margo and her team for all their hard work. You can order your own Good Food Box from Michele @ The Indian Family Centre 586-8393.

Love & Respect

MC

So, in an effort to inform you blog readers more about NEFSN and the Good Food Box,

I e-mailed the coordinator of all this goodness herself. More info from Margo below:

Saturday, August 6, 2011

If you live in the boundaries that are pictured above, welcome to Point Douglas! If you remember, in our area in the most recent federal election, the winner was decided by a mere 44 votes. 44!!! I am willing to bet that if you are reading this, you knew at least 44 people who would have voted in this last election and didn't. We have been getter and better in Winnipeg North, thanks to initiatives like North End Votes and AYO's previous PolitiX initiatives, young people and the community as a whole are starting to get involved with the systems that affect us.

Apathetic No More

So, in the last election, it was called Winnipeg North, because it was federal. This upcoming provincial election has different boundaries. I have been doing some digging and have figured out how we can access basic info for the peeps running from 3 of the major parties in PD.

I'm not particularly familiar with this lady, and she doesn't seem to have a website up yet, but she does have a facebook page with 50 likes and a little mini bio on the Liberal MB website. She seems like she has a great record according to her website of child and youth advocacy which is awesome.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

So, I hope that you have now been able to sign up for Twitter! In my last blog post(LINK HERE) I shared with you some beginning info for a new Twitterer. Now that you have become familiar with that part of Twitter, I’d like to share with you a few more additional Twitter features and tidbits that will make your stay on twitter more enjoyable, and make spreading your message more effective!

@mentions: These are like shout outs. You can send shout outs to other twitter users and when you use their @username, they are alerted that your tweeting about them. There is a lot of manners on twitter, so when someone @mentions you, its usually polite to ‘reply’ to them saying thank you, and/or to RT the tweet that mentioned you!

Links/pictures: When you are tweeting, it is possible for you to share links AND photos with people. With links, its tricky because with specific webpages, the URL addresses can get pretty long. However, Twitter has an awesome feature called a URL Shortener that makes these links shorter so they don’t eat up too much of your 140 characters availability. With pictures, they use up about 40 characters to attach them to a tweet…but its helpful because a picture (especially on Twitter) really is worth a thousand words :P

Trending Topics: Part of Twitter tracks the most popular things that people are talking about, either in hashtags or just in normal conversations. At the time of me writing this post, the trending topics in Canada for Twitter were

#dearyoungself

#thereisalwaysthat1person

Dear Santa

Cowboys & Aliens

Stevie Wonder

Lists: now once, you become a Twitter champion, you will see it doesn’t take very long to amass a list of over 100 people that you are following. You will find that you will want to follow people for different reasons. Some are friends, some are news sources, some are inspiring quotes, whatever. You can use the list feature to group tweeps together if they all have a shared space in your brain. These can be public or private

Access to Big Dogs: There are many celebrities and politicians that use twitter. Also, local big dogs from our area may be on twitter as well, meaning music artists, elected officials or people in senior positions within organizations. Twitter is the great internet equalizer and I can send a message to any celebrity and they can very easily respond in any number of ways.

EX1 – PolitiX, in April 2011, invited political candidates to participate in a youth forum, invites were sent out strictly by twitter. It was a great success as we got 3 out of 5 candidates to attend our event.

EX2 - just last week, MC was asked by @ArriveAliveWpg to send a shout out, because they wanted Winnipeggers to be safe when drinking and not driving. I did, but I also sent a request to Bif Naked (@bifnaked) who was also tweeting at that same moment, asking her to also give a shout out asking Winnipeggers to be safe…AND SHE DID! It was so cool, I’m so star struck :P

Movements: #cdnpoli and #FF and AYO movementZ. There are a variety of social issues that yo can become involved in or create awareness on via twitter. It is entirely possible for people to start a social movement simply by harnessing the power of twitter.

EX1: MC started the #NorthEndRising Hashtag before NECRC came onto Twitter, as a means of sharing good things that are happeninig in the north end. People were receptive to it and others bean using it. As such, it had familiarity when @NorthEndRising (NECRC’s Twitter account) came into existence, as they simply inherited the main usage of that hashtag!

EX2: #JohnWatchWPG is an AYO response to being fed up with Johns in our neighbourhood. More info HERE.

EX#3: there is something on Twitter called Follow Friday (#FF). Every Friday, you pick random people on your follow list and send them shout outs using that hashtag. In this way you recommend to all your followers to follow this other person who is awesome!

As you can see, there is so much for us to do on Twitter. But consider this your warning, it can be addictive! It gets addictive when people follow you, because it creates the (correct, I think) impression that people are interested in the things you have to say. Also, you can connect with people that you would never know otherwise which is kind of cool!

Caution

One word of caution, there are spam bots and creepers on twitter that may send you suspicious links on Twitter. Use discretion and make sure that you check out someone’s profile before you open a link they send you. If they have a lot of normal conversation tweets…like a human!! Then they are probably ok. But if they have sent out 1000 messages, with no words, only a link, they are brand new to twitter, and no one is following them…they are probably a SPAM BOT and you don’t want to open that link. Also, one crappy thing about twitter is that when these spam messages get sent to you…I don’t know of a way that you can delete that message that was sent by someone else.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Movement (moov – m uh nt) noun: 1.) a a group of people with a common ideology b the organized action and campaigning of such a group: a successful movement to abolish child exploitation.

AYO is an anti-gang. That means we are a group of young people banding together for support towards making positive choices and accessing meaningful opportunities. By our very existing, we satisfy the first part of the above mentioned definition of a movement, as a group of people standing behind the same ideology.

Since our inception in March 2010, we have attempted to mobilize our various networks and communities for collective action towards a common goal. Recently, we have begun to infiltrate the internet with our positive message, in an attempt at sharing more opportunities with more young people!

Hashtags (on twitter)

Part of what we have done is began using Twitter Hashtags to group our thoughts together on Twitter. Each of these hashtags represent a different type of project or goal, and the use of such a hashtag allows us to keep all the tweets that use such a tag together. This is useful in case we ask a question or are hosting a conversation, where people can simply use a hashtag to include their tweet in the discussion.

So you probably have heard a lot of people talking about Twitter. Twitter is a social network (like Facebook) that people can use to connect with other people. At a quick glance, it may look like it has many similair features as Facebook, and for that reason, you may think ‘If I have a facebook, I don’t need a Twitter, right?” WRONG!

The following points will summarize a few of the features that are part of Twitter. I also include a few helpful hints that I have noticed as well as examples that are current as of right now or from my own personal Tweet collection!

Signing Up: Signing up is easy and free! You simply go to http://www.twitter.com/ and fill out the info with your email, password and your ‘twitterhandle’ (or username). It all has to be one word, and can be a mix of letters and numbers if you wish. Pick something awesome that represents you! You can also include _ in it, but no other symbols. It will always begin with the “@”.

EX1 - @northendmc

EX2 - @UnitedWayWpg

EX3 - @johnathon204

Tweets: this is the main point of Twitter, where you can share one blurb about what’s happening, in 140 characters or less. It’s actually easier AND harder to work this way because you have to learn how to say things in only a few words! This is similair to ‘status updates’ on Facebook

RT (re-tweets): If you wanna show love/support (or like) something on Twitter, you RT it. RT means you send that persons ‘tweet’ into your own timeline. (your timeline is the summary of tweets that you see on your home page.)

One of the first people you should find on Twitter is @Winnipeg_rt. When you say “#winnipeg” in any tweet, your message will be RT’d to all of the people that are connected to this user! Cool eh?!

# (hashtags): This is how Twitter organizes searches for specific words or phrases. They can be used at the end of a Tweet, in the middle-during a sentence, or can be created to start a movement (be creative!!)

EX1 – I am so #excited to join Twitter!

EX2 – This is going to be so awesome! #excited #twitter

EX3 – I love the Aboriginal Youth Leaders in the North End of #Winnipeg! #AYO #NorthEndRising

Following: When you ‘follow’ someone, or they follow you, your tweets show up in each others’ timelines. That’s how you can stay updated or connected. You can have access to the tweets of the people that you are following, and the more followers you get, the more people have access to your messages!

This can be especially helpful if you are sharing links to your own blog or other awesome websites you want people to see!

Remember folks, Twitter is one type of social media and can be helpful in you getting your message out. It usually isn’t that helpful to JUST use one type of social media…as in JUST facebook. I would like to recommend to all of you to get a blog. I know that for me I really enjoy being able to have a space online where I am in total control. On my blog (as you can see if you are reading this) I have links to other websites, my own pages (YouTube, Twitter) and a couple other random things. Seriously, you can make your blog be your own space.

So anyway, if you have read this, I hope you have joined twitter, I can’t wait to see you tweeps over there!

North End MC

Representin the North End of Winnipeg since 1987. I will share my journey tryna set an example and live a proud Cree life. I'll include my challenges and feelings and progress in terms of AYO! Aboriginal Youth Opportunities. You(th) are the reason.

AYO - Who We Are

AYO! (Aboriginal Youth Opportunities) is a network of young leaders from the North End; we stand together and learn from each other.We began in March 2010 and committed to working together.We have appeared on the radio and held an education themed event in the summer time.

This group is just us young people volunteering and therefore we have no budget.Our method of operating is writing letters of support to see who we can work with to strengthen this network of young leaders that are committed to helping our community get better; to see who wants to provide ABORIGINAL YOUTH with even more OPPORTUNITIES to be awesome.